Life or death?
by ButterflyGirl89
Summary: Lori wakes up in the boiler room after her c-section. She's alone and waiting to die until Carol finds her. Just as they're about to be killed by walkers they are saved by a group of men. The men can help Lori and take them somewhere safe. Carol has no choice but to go along with them as its the only way to save a dying Lori. But has she saved her and put them in more danger? Dark!
1. Chapter 1

**I've not wrote a walking dead story before so figured I'd give it a shot. I'm a huge Lori and Carol fan so this is how I hope things may turn out in future episodes for them. If you don't like the character of Lori or Carol then you may not want to read this story, don't just read to bash the characters. **

**Summary: Lori wakes up in the boiler room, she's bleeding but she's alive. She's alone until a familiar face, Carol, runs into the room, followed by a bunch of walkers. Has she woken up just to be eaten alive? Carol chooses to go with a group of men who claim to be guards and claim they can help Lori….has she made the right choice or has she put her and Lori in more danger.**

**This is based on the TV series and not the comics as I haven't read them yet but I would love to one day.  
**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 1**

Lori slowly opened her eyes. They felt as heavy as lead. For some reason she had thought she would wake up somewhere….well she wasn't sure where but it wasn't back in the boiler room again. She looked up at the same ugly ceiling, glanced at the same ugly walls. Then she suddenly smelt the coppery stench of blood and like a wall the pain suddenly hit her as she became fully conscious.

She couldn't help but cry out in pain, in excruciating agony. She placed her hands on her stomach and was almost sick when she felt the gaping wound and her warm blood that seeped from it. She grabbed hold of her shirt and pulled it around her as tight as her weekend body would allow and then held it down over the wound, once more she cried out in agony.

She had to quickly silence herself,_ something that wasn't easy_, as she heard footsteps approaching. She knew it had to be a walker, probably smelling her blood. The stench of it was knocking her sick it was so strong but she knew to a walker it would be a heavenly smell and chances where she would be its first meal in a while.

She managed to roll onto her side and pull herself along the dirty floor but the movement made her scream in pain. She lay there, still, too weak to try to move again. She couldn't help but think it so cruel to survive being cut open so her baby could live only to be then eaten by a walker. She could only pray her death would be a quick one. She had already lost so much blood, how long would it be until she bled out totally. She hoped a few deep bites would be enough.

"Lori!" she suddenly heard.

Recognising the soft voice she rolled herself onto her back, crying out in pain as she did so. The agony was making her head spin, making her vision blurred and black around the edges, all of it making her want to fall back into unconsciousness.

"_Oh my God_, Lori!" Carol cried as she fell to her knees beside her.

Lori noticed how the woman didn't even think twice about coming up to her but she understood her reasons when she asked, "Lori, was this a walker. There's so much blood, I can't tell if you were bitten!"

"Not bit….C-c-caesarean….M-Mag—Maggie…no choice!" Lori told her with a cry of pain.

Carol felt her stomach turn. She knew Maggie had done her best but it was all wrong, and she knew Lori needed urgent care or she was going to die. She had practised helping deliver the baby and then fixing Lori back up, but not like this. She needed the groups help, she needed equipment.

Carol suddenly heard a bang as the door to the boiler room swung open. She looked up and saw a fat and slow walker making its way over to her. She quickly moved behind Lori and hooked her arms under Lori's and began dragging her back, realising she was unconscious again.

The walker was slow, but Carol was struggling to move Lori and the walker was getting closer and closer. She was shocked when the walker was suddenly shoved right out of the way by more walkers, four of them all moving fast towards them. Carol screamed knowing the walkers where about to get both her and Lori.

She jumped a mile when three men suddenly ran in. She watched in shock as the men easily killed the four walkers. It was obvious to her that these men had killed them before and being in prison she wondered what else, or rather who else they had killed.

When all the walkers where taken out the men ran over to her and Lori. "Was she bitten?" one asked her as he looked down at Lori. He was white and very tall, big built bt it was obvious he had lost some weight and some muscle recently.

"No, she was pregnant, it was caesarean." Carol told him.

"Have you been bitten?" another of the men asked her. This man was also white and very tall, he wasn't as well built as the other two men.

"No…no. Neither of us have been bitten. Please, you have to help me help her!"

"Okay, we need to get out of here." he replied.

Carol was about to tell them about Rick and the rest of the group but until she knew more she decided it may be safer for the group to say nothing. She allowed the biggest built of the white men to scoop Lori up. "She's bleeding pretty bad. We have to get her to the infirmary as soon as possible." he said.

"You can get to the infirmary?" Carol asked.

"Not the main one, but we're hiding out on G-block. It's the safest place here as it was once where we housed the most dangerous creeps in here. They were locked up pretty much day and night, but there had to be a small infirmary there so we weren't moving them through the rest of the prison." The third man told her. He was black and tall and reminded her so much of T-dog, a thought that brought tears to her eyes that she had to quickly wipe away.

"You're guards here?" she asked.

"We were." he replied.

"We can talk later, but right now we have to get going. I think there's a herd coming!" the other white man said.

"Okay, come on let's get going!" one of the men said, all Carol could do was follow, praying she was doing the right thing.

**TBC**

**Please tell me what you think? **

**Do you want to read more? Other chapter will be longer than this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and added alerts. It means a lot to me you giving this story a shot. **

**So here's the second chapter, hope you like it. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**Chapter 2**

_Once more Lori woke from unconsciousness_. She expected to be looking up at the same dirty ceiling, looking round at the same dirty walls. Maybe she had expected to wake up with a walker eating her…she had even expected to wake up as a walker. She guessed she must have been dreaming this would actually happen because as she looked around she saw clean walls. She saw she was in a hospital room of some sort.

"Lori!"

She turned to face a boarded up window beside which Carol was stood, having been gazing out of the window through a small gap in the planks of wood.

Upon seeing she was awake Carol raced over to Lori and gently ran her hand over Lori's face. She hadn't actually expected her friend to wake up, well not alive at least. Lori had been on deaths doorstep by the time they had gotten her to the G-block infirmary. Carol had waited outside while a male doctor and two male nurses had worked to save Lori.

It had all felt a little surreal for Carol when waiting outside whilst they saved Lori as there had been more people around her than she had seen in a while. There had been armed guards standing by a heavy metal gate. The whole thing should have made her feel safer than she had felt in a while. But it didn't, something felt…._off._ She hadn't yet seen one woman around the place, but being a man's prison this wasn't a huge surprise to her, but still something was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Something kept sending cold shivers racing down her spine.

"Where are Rick and the others?" Lori asked Carol. It was obvious she was feeling weak, her voice was quiet, barely audible.

Carol couldn't look Lori in the eyes as she shook her head and said, "When the yard was overrun we all got separated; you, Carl and Maggie, me and….me and T-dog."

"Where is he now? How did you two get separated?" Lori asked.

Carol had to really force her tears back, it was a struggle and she barely managed to say. "He was bitten, and then he sacrificed himself for me." she cried.

Lori felt tears burning in her eyes, "Is there any chance he…?" she was cut off by Carol shaking her head. "What about Carl, Maggie….the baby, did you see them, are they okay?" she asked desperately.

Carol could once more only shake her head, "I don't know!" she cried before she threw her arms around Lori and both women cried as they held each other.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lori was lay staring at her stomach. Carol was now asleep in a chair beside her bed, her head resting on the bed beside Lori. Lori was starting to feel some pain and it was sickening but she presumed pain meds were limited here so she just tried to push the feeling aside. She didn't really care about pain meds, she kept thinking about her baby, thinking about if she had a new son or maybe a daughter….thinking about whether Maggie and Carl had gotten somewhere safe with the baby, back to Rick and the others.

She looked up from her stomach when a doctor walked into the room, he didn't have on a white coat but the way he spoke and acted told Lori he was the doctor who had most likely saved her life. "Hi, Lori, I'm Doctor Martin. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Yeah, err, I feel great." she lied. "Seeing as I was cut open on a boiler room floor not so long ago."

"About that, I'd like to know more, like who did it to you?" he asked as he pulled up a seat on the other side of her bed.

The sound of the chair legs scraping across the floor was enough to wake Carol who quickly noticed the doctor sitting opposite her. "What I miss?" she asked.

"Doctor Martin was just asking me about the C-section." Lori explained.

"Did you tell them like you told me?" she said as she stared Lori in the eyes, her look told Lori something but she wasn't sure what so she decided to go along with her. "I was just about to tell him that I really don't know much. I mean, I think I must have passed out from the pain the moment I was cut open." Lori said.

"Who cut you open is what I would like to know?" Doctor Martin said.

"It was our friend, but she ran as soon as the baby was out. We were only stopping here so Lori could deliver the baby. We got separated for a moment and that's when the C-section happened." Carol said.

"So there were just you two and your friend?" Doctor Martin asked.

"There was." Carol said.

Both women looked at Doctor Martin who seemed to be considering what they had just said. "Well, look. You are both welcome to stay here as long as you need. Lori, you're gonna be in no condition to get up and move around for a few days and even then you're gonna have to take it real easy, this wasn't your everyday caesarean. I'm afraid it was more like something out of a horror film." he said.

"Isn't all of this?" Lori scoffed.

Doctor Martin smiled and laughed a little, then said, "Well anyway, Carol, we have a room you can stay in. It will be much more comfortable than that chair."

"I'm fine, really. I'll stay here with Lori." Carol replied.

"Lori, really needs her rest." Doctor Martin explained.

Carol didn't want to leave Lori alone but she figured it might be best to get a better look around G-black. "Okay, but can I stay here just a little longer?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll go make sure there's a room set up for you." Doctor Martin said as he stood up. "Lori, you're doing fantastic, you're recovering remarkably well. I have no doubt at this rate that you'll be out of here in a day or so."

Lori smiled and thanked him then she and Carol watched as he walked out of the infirmary. The second the door closed behind him Lori turned to face Carol. "What's up?" she asked, "Why didn't you mention about the others?"

"I just think it would be better if we didn't, not until we know more about these people….I just have this weird feeling is all." Carol said.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Doctor Martin stepped through a gate guarded by two armed men. The men all shared hello's before Doctor Martin carried on. He passed down three more corridors and through some more sets of guarded gates before he came to a cell block. There were two more male guards sitting at a small table playing cards.

"Andrew, heard we have two more?" One of the guards said to Doctor Andrew Martin.

"About time too, we were in need of some new faces around here." Andrew replied before he headed off up some stairs to the second floor. He quickly glanced into each cell as he passed by. When he got to the end call a guard suddenly stepped out of it, zipping up his trousers as he did so. He looked up and looked a little shocked to see Andrew standing there.

"Andrew, I heard we have two more ladies as of yesterday." he said sounding a little nervous.

"We sure do." Andrew replied.

"Good, because we are now one bitch down." The guard said as he pulled the sheet that was a makeshift curtain back.

A beaten, naked woman lay on the bottom cot of a set of bunks. Her dead icy glare aimed right at Andrew. "She was popular with the guys." the guard said with a sigh. "I just got carried away." he confessed.

"Then you can be the one to take her body to the yard." Andrew snapped at him.

He turned his back on the guard and began heading back towards the stairs, glancing back in all the cells. In each one a woman sat on a cot, watching him with fearful eyes, all of them expecting the same treatment they usually suffered at the hand of the men running the wing…_the same treatment that Andrew had planned for Carol and Lori._

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading, please review and let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who is reading this story. Well it's looking less likely like this would ever ever happen (by this I mean Lori being alive somewhere), but for that reason all I can say is thank the stars that Fanfiction exists. **

**So I know that The Walking Dead is a dark show anyway but this chapter is pretty dark so this is just a warning now. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 3**

Carol had wanted to stay with Lori in the hospital ward for longer but Doctor Martin had said she needed rest, and Carol knew this was true, but it didn't mean she had to like it. She was constantly worrying about Lori as she was led down one corridor and then another. She couldn't stop wishing she hadn't left her.

"Can I go back and see Lori in a bit?" she asked Doctor Martin as he led the way.

"Maybe tomorrow." he said as they came to a cell block.

Carol was a little curious as to why it too was guarded at the main gate by two guards but she suspected it was probably for security reasons, just in case walkers were able to get this far, which she highly doubted.

As they stepped through the gate Carol wrapped her arms tighter around herself, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. A cold chill suddenly shot down her spine and all she could think was that she wanted to turn and run back out of the cell black and back to Lori and then together they had to leave, _try to find the group again. _

"Guys, this is Carol. She's going to be staying with us for a while." Martin said, introducing her to the guards who were playing another game of cards, and smoking cigarettes.

"You're friend doing okay in the hospital?" One of the guards asked as he studied her.

"She'll be up and about in no time. Then we'll be on our way, leave you all to get on with things." Carol said, trying to sound more confident than she actually felt right now.

"Is that what you think?" Martin asked her from behind.

Carol turned to face him but only in time to see his fist connect hard with her face. She was practically out cold when she hit the floor, for this reason she could do nothing to stop two of the guards dragging her to what would be her cell for the remainder of her time in G-block, _however long that would prove to be._

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lori found herself staring at her stomach again. She was trying not to think about her baby, but she just couldn't help it. She kept wondering whether the child was a girl or a boy. She kept wondering whether it looked like Carl, she could imagine it would. This made her think about Carl just as much, he had been such a cute baby, and had grown into such an amazing young man. She just wished that his childhood hadn't had to be sacrificed in getting him there.

She hoped that Rick was okay with the baby, she understood why he had issues with it but she just knew the baby was his. She hated to think that the baby would grow up never having its mother and having a father who may want nothing to do with it. It made her more sad because she knew Rick was the best father any child could ask for. She knew he would die for Carl and she prayed he would feel the same upon seeing the baby and realising it _was_ his child.

She also prayed that Rick wasn't taking her death too hard, but she doubted it after all that had happened between them recently. She knew that he had to keep it together for the good of the group. They needed him, they relied on him, whether it was fair on Rick or not, but at the end of the day he was right for the role. _He was a leader and a great, great man._

She was brought out of her thoughts when Doctor Martin walked in. "Hey. Where's Carol?" she asked.

"She's fine. We're helping get her settled into her room." he replied with a smile.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol could do nothing to stop herself being pinned up against the wall. She screamed in frustration when her attacker, one of the guards who had been playing cards, slammed their semi-naked body up against hers. He had already stripped her of her clothes and hit hard across the face when she had punched him in the face for doing so.

The punch had only given her a minute of satisfaction before she had been hit hard in the face again by him and then punched hard in the stomach. Now, although she struggled and tried, she couldn't push away from the wall and so she couldn't move away as her attacker forced themselves hard into her body.

She cried out in pain and anger and as her assault continued, she could only wonder why she hadn't trusted her instincts. She could only hope Lori wouldn't face the same cruel torture she was now.

**~0~0~0~0~**

"Stiches have held well, and the wound has stayed clean. All in all I think you're gonna make a full and quick recovery." Doctor Martin told Lori as he fixed her hospital gown back into place and pulled her blankets back around her.

"Good. As soon as I'm better Carol and I will have to leave. I just hope we can catch up with our friend, wherever she is. I can't wait to see my baby."

"You'll be good to move into a cell soon, but not well enough to leave."

Lori thought about his words and had to ask, "Cell?"

Doctor Martin looked at her, pissed at himself for what he had just said, but he quickly covered himself, "I'm afraid this is no hotel. We had to convert cells into rooms. They're not as bad as they sound and they're safe which is what's important. Never thought I'd want to be on the other side of the bars, but at night it helps me sleep easier knowing I'm locked in where no walkers can attack me in my sleep."

"True, I suppose." Lori replied, "Like I said though as soon as I can, Carol and I will be on our way."

"Well, we'll just have to see how long it takes for you to be back to your old self."

"Well, get some rest, we'll take you down to your room in the morning."

"Be nice to get out of here. No offense but I've always hated hospitals." Lori confessed.

"There are worse places, Lori, trust me." Martin replied with a smile.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol was lay on the bed in her cell. She felt sick with pain, she wanted to fall asleep and forget all about what had happened to her, but she knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. The attack kept replaying over and over in her head.

Despite the pain she was in she wrapped the blanket around herself and forced herself to stand up when she heard the guards begin to speak, their voices full of excitement. She walked over to the closed door of her cell in time to see a group of five women walk through the gates of the block.

She watched them make their way up to the cells beside her own. She could barely make them out walking into theirs cells but she heard the doors to each one of their cells slam shut and heard the guards lock them all.

With a sigh she made her way over to her bed and grabbed the prison uniform the guard who had raped her had left behind for her. She began to slowly change into the clothes, trying to ignore the pain every slight movement caused her. Only when she had the clothes on did she lower herself onto the bed. She wrapped the blanket tight around herself and vowed she would stay awake, she had to so she would see another attack coming as she knew, without a doubt, one would be.

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading, please review and let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank to anyone reading and reviewing. Sorry this has taken so long to update. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 4**

Lori woke up to find herself alone in the hospital ward. She'd never been a big fan of hospitals and avoided them at all costs despite how ill she was, when she had been in the past it was because Rick had dragged her there kicking and screaming. When Carl had been born she had insisted Rick stay with her at all times and had threatened to walk out with Carl if the doctors didn't allow it. In the end they had but she had barely slept even with Rick by her side holding her hand and with one hand resting on Carl's cot.

She wished Rick could be here with her now. It hurt her to think about him but she also needed it, thinking about him kept her from going insane. She missed him so much. She wanted so badly to get back to him and make things up. She wished she could reverse time back to before everything turned to hell on earth.

She needed to make up with Carl too. It killed her that their relationship had fallen apart because they had always had such a strong mother/son bond. She hoped she could get it back, she had to, she'd die for Carl and she wanted him to know that.

She glanced up when Doctor Martin came into the room. He was carrying a small tray and she could only presume it was her medication. She certainly needed some, she was beginning to feel the pain creeping back up on her.

"How are you feeling, Lori?" he asked.

"Sore." she told him with a little laugh, she felt so pathetic admitting such a fact.

"Here, take these, they'll help." he told her.

Lori happily took the little pot of pills and threw them into the back of her throat. She then grabbed the small cup of water and took a big gulp and washed the tablets down.

"Better?" Doc Martin asked as he took the cup from her.

Lori nodded. For a moment she had felt fine but after a few minute's things started to blur, and she began to feel light headed. She turned to face the door and could just about make out two guards walking in. She knew the guards were talking to Doctor Martin but as everything began to go black she had no idea what the men were saying to one another.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol felt like anything but exercise, especially not organised exercise set out by her attackers. Out in the yard she had instantly stood with the other women who stood along the building wall, as far from the fence as possible where walkers clung on to it, their rotting fingers trying to inch through the fencing trying to get to the women. Carol could see the hoping in their eyes, hoping that she and the others would become their next meal.

"How did you come to be here?"

Carol turned to the side to see a woman looking at her, she thought she had heard something and now she presumed it had been the woman looking at her having spoken to her.

"Excuse me?" Carol said. She had been so focused on the walkers that she hadn't heard what the woman had said, she was just aware she had said something.

"I said how'd you come to be here?" the woman asked again.

Carol thought about telling her the truth and the consequences it could have if they were to tell the men, but for some reason she trusted the women, after all they were as much prisoners as she was now. She glanced up at the stairs to the side of her that led back into the prison, two male guards stood there watching the walkers at the fence.

"I was with a group of people, we came here looking for shelter. My friend was due to have a baby, we figured it would be a safe place for her to do that here."

"How wrong were you?!" One of the women spat. She was tall, with long black hair that hung down her back. Her name was Paula and Carol knew she was someone she would never get on with.

"Clearly I know that now." Carol snapped at her.

"She's not trying to be funny." The other woman defended.

"Yes I am. She was an idiot to come here."

"I'm sorry about her," the woman said turning her back slightly on the other woman. "I'm Rita." The woman said as she held out her hand to Carol. "She's Paula."

Carol took it and gave it a gentle shake, "Carol."

The women all took a minute to stare at the fence, more walkers had gathered, all growling and moaning as they desperately tried to claw their way through the fence.

"How did you all come to be here?" Carol asked.

"We worked here, all of us in one wing or the other." Rita said, "When the outbreak happened we tried to stay here, safe, some left to try to get to their families, but they never made it. I've seen some of them, out there." she said as she glanced at the fence again. "Part of me wishes I had tried to escape too, but I didn't have a family to go off to find. I stayed here to look after the prisoners, little did I know that the prisoners would rebel and that they would take over the prison and that we would become the inmates…sex slaves to some of America's worst criminals."

"If you worked here then you must now how to get out of here." Carol said.

"You mean go out there, with them. I think I'd rather get fucked than be eaten alive by Zombies." Paula spat.

"Well I wouldn't…and I am going to get out of here, you can come with me if you want." Carol said, her voice dripping with determination.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lori stood up from the toilet in the corner of the cell she had been dragged too. The pain it had caused her and been more than enough to make her violently sick. Little did she know it was the fact that she was throwing her guts up that she had not suffered from what the guard had had planned for her. He had however pushed her down to the floor and told her he would be back. She had no idea why, but she didn't doubt that he would be.

She carefully sat down on the bunk in her cell, however she pushed herself up again when she heard the men shouting. "Move it ladies! Get in your cells now!"

She glanced out of her cell and was shocked to see a line of women walking through the wing, she almost burst into tears when she saw Carol. "Carol!" she cried out, unable to stop herself.

Carol saw her and immediately broke from the line and went running over to her cell. "Lori, _my God,_ are you okay?"

"I'm fine, are you?" Lori asked.

"Yeah, look we have to get out of here, I think maybe I have an idea."

"How?" Lori asked.

Carol never got a chance to answer as a guard ran up behind her and hit her hard in the back with a truncheon. Carol cried out in agony and fell to her knees. Lori reached out through the bars and tried to hold Carol up but the guard hit her arm hard and then dragged Carol away and all Lori could do was watch.

**TBC**

**Sorry this is a very short chapter but the next is longer. The next will be up much sooner.**

**Thanks for reading. Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Hope you like this chapter; sorry it wasn't updated as quickly as I had hoped.**

**I decided to use the idea from the show were Rick keeps seeing Lori. I kept wishing she wouldn't really be just an image in his mind. I keep altering the chapters I have drafted but I think it is better now as it helps build suspense.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 5**

The cars were packed with everything they owned, everything they needed to survive, but Rick couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something…or rather someone. It killed him that the group had lost three members. The group was a family now and the loss had hit them all hard which is why they had decided to move on it was too hard for them to stay after losing their friends there. The addition of baby Judith helped a little for the others but for Rick, each time he looked at his new daughter, he saw Lori's face, saw her eyes looking back at him.

He glanced around the prison, the place that had come to be their home, a place he really didn't want to leave, not yet….something was telling him he couldn't not yet. He glanced up to a familiar spot, a spot where he kept seeing Lori standing, he knew she was in his mind, his breakdown had taught him that, but still each time he saw her he wished she would call out to him, really be there.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Darryl walked over to him with a confused look on his face.

"What is it?" Rick asked him knowingly.

Darryl simply held out his hand, in which was a small knife. Rick didn't really understand the importance of the knife until Darryl explained, "It's Carol's knife…"

Rick suddenly looked at the knife with a new found hope. All he could think was if Carol was somewhere in the prison, possibly still alive then perhaps Lori was too.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol had been mixed between feelings of disgust and relief when the guards had made Lori go out for exercise. Carol knew Lori was in a world of pain and herself and Rita holding onto her was the only reason Lori wasn't flat on the ground.

All Lori could do was hold her hand over her wound. It was only because of the medical skill of Doctor Martin that she wasn't dead but she felt like she had been to hell and back with the pain she was in.

"You okay?" Carol asked her as she grew more and more pale.

"Just feeling a little rough…" Lori said, trying to make light of the situation.

"You should be glad you have that wound, it's the only thing stopping the guards from fucking you each and every way right now!"

"Shut the hell up, Paula!" another woman named Sheila said, she was a petite blonde, stunning, and Carol was sure a favourite among the guards.

"That's not going to be happening to anyone of us again." Carol said.

"Here you go again with your plan…if that's what you call it, sounds more like a suicide mission to me." Paula growled.

"I'd rather die than have to stay here another day." Carol snapped at her.

"We just need to get to the others, Rick…" Lori began to say.

"Rick is probably dead….along with the rest of your friends. In case you haven't noticed this place is crawling with walkers." Paula continued to growl, a tone Lori and Carol were coming to realise was the only one she could use when she spoke.

"Exactly why we're going to use them to help us get out of here; the guards will be so busy fighting them off they won't be watching us, and that's when we'll slip out of here unnoticed." Carol said, reminding them of the plan.

"And when we run into a group of walkers in the corridors then what?" Paula argued.

"The corridors are littered with broken chairs and other things we can use as weapons, we just need to stay together at all times, watch each other's backs." Carol told them.

"We're doing this with or without you, Paula." Rita pointed out.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Darryl had easily convinced Rick and Glenn to search the prison with him. Now they crept along the corridors that were littered with walkers they had already taken out. Rick couldn't help but think if for some reason they were to stay at the prison he would clear the corridors properly. He wished they had more people so they could really search every last inch of the prison, make it truly safe inside, with just the grounds to worry about defending it would be much easier…but if he didn't find Lori or Carol they he certainly wasn't staying at the prison.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol's plan sounded simple enough – get walkers in and run like the wind. Getting them in unnoticed to start off with was the hard part. Carol had noticed the fence near the building was slightly pulled away at the top, a very crappy job had been done to fix it but Carol new a twist of some links would have it unstable again.

"Create the diversion." she whispered to the others.

Paula and Sheila did what they knew they had to, they walked closer to the guards and then began arguing, after just a few moments they began to fight and the two guards quickly ran down the steps to break them up.

Carol dashed over to the fence leaving Rita holding up Lori, slowly she inched Lori closer to the steps. Carol reached up and began twisting the links that had been used to pull the fence back together, it didn't take long for walkers to see her and slowly they began making their way over to her. She untwisted the last two links and pulled on the fence revealing the gap more, she then turned and ran over to Rita and Lori just as the walkers began pushing their way through the small gap, the more walkers that came over the more weight that was pressed against it and the weaker it became.

Carol ran over to one of the guards who was still busy trying to stop Paula and Shelia fighting, she hit him hard on the back of the head just as he was about to hit Paula, then with the help of Paula they pushed him into a couple of walkers who had made it through the gate.

The other guard turned in time to see his friend getting torn apart by walkers and the moment distraction was all Paula needed to punch him in the back of the head. He fell to the ground on his knees and she delivered a hard kick into his back as dozens of walkers crashed through the gate.

The women all ran up the steps and back into the prison as the walkers began to tear apart the second guard.

Inside the prison they all ran over to the first set of gates, they were all screaming, informing the guard of the walkers that had broken through the gate. The guard wasted no time in opening the gate for them, he was waiting for his two fellow guards when Paula and Sheila pushed him through the gate and slammed it shut, but not before Carol grabbed his gun.

It was his turn to scream as the corridor began filling with walkers who came charging at him. Part of Carol wanted to lock the door with the keys that were still in the lock but it was important that more walkers got through. She pulled the keys from the lock and the women ran away from the cells where they had been violated and into corridors filled with more danger…_filled with walkers…_

**TBC**

**Thanks for reading, please review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm glad people are still reading despite the time it takes me to update. As a huge thanks I was determined to update quicker and here it is. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**Chapter 6**

The women made their way through thecorridors littered with walker bodies. They had all managed to find a weapon of sorts, something that could be used to stab a walker in the head if needed, Carol still had a hold of the gun and so she was taking up the lead. Already they had taken out many walkers as they made their way through the dark corridors, desperately trying to find safety.

"How much further away?" Paula asked in a loud whisper.

"It can't be far!" Carol said as she faced a familiar door, the boiler room door.

She quickly turned to see Lori looking at the door too, a pained look on her face. Seeing the door made Lori's stomach ache. She prayed that Carl and Maggie and the baby had made it away safely from here but everywhere she looked she saw walker bodies on the floor. She had to quickly remind herself that the walkers on the floor had been taken out and that someone had to have done that whether it had been Carl or Maggie or the others if they had come looking for them.

_She hoped she would see them all soon. _

"Let's keep moving, this way!" Carol said.

"Do you reckon many walkers got in?" Rita asked.

"Definitely, all the guards back there will be walker food by now!" Paula said with a smile, her tone no longer a growl but rather a happy one that made all the other women smile.

They pushed forward, their desperation to reach safety growing stronger the closer they got to it. However, they didn't meet it as they turned a corner; instead Carol bumped into a huge walker. It turned and growled at her as it launched forward, throwing its long arms out at her.

Its clumsy limbs knocked the gun right out of Carol's hand and as it came at her she expected to feel its teeth sink into her flesh but the 6ft and more walker suddenly made an odd gurgling sound as a wooden spike was stabbed through its eye.

Carol turned to see Paula holding the other end of the spike of wood. "Thank you," she said to the woman who had just saved her life.

"No problem." Paula replied with a smile before pulling the spike out of the walker's eye socket.

"Let's get going before we bump into more walkers." Carol said as she scooped up the gun and continued to lead the way, with Paula now by her side.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Doctor Martin was running down the corridor, he had managed to grab a gun and it was the only reason he was still alive. He had no idea what had happened but he just knew in his gut it had something to do with Lori and Carol and he was sure as hell he would make them both pay for what they had done, the chaos they had caused, but first he had to escape the walkers that weren't far behind him, their hungry growls and grunts echoing around him.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Rick once more found himself standing by the cars. He glanced over at Darryl who was doing something with his bike, something Rick was sure was merely a distraction. He knew the fact they hadn't found Carol or Lori hurt him as much as it did himself. Though both Darryl and Carol tried to hide it everyone knew the feelings they shared for one another, feelings that were only growing stronger.

After having searched the prison for hours they had found nothing, or rather no-one. They had to admit their worst fears, Lori and Carol were gone. As Rick glanced up to a familiar spot he saw Lori standing there, holding her hand over her swollen stomach, once more he knew it was just in his head, but still he wished it wasn't.

He hated that they were ready to leave because he felt like he had a magnet within him that was attracted to another magnet within the prison, he just couldn't pull himself away, couldn't force himself to get into one of the cars and drive away from the prison forever…_but he knew for the sake of his children and the others he would have to do it._

He took one last look to the spot where he saw Lori so often and saw she was standing there once more, for a moment he was sure it was all in his head but then he noticed the differences about her, she wasn't just her standing there wearing the same clothes he had last seen her in; she was dressed in prison uniform and there were more women including Carol and then he heard her call out to him.

At first he was sure this was all in his mind too but then she called out again, and Carol called out to Darryl and then everyone was rushing past him towards Lori and the others. Everything was happening too fast for him to register but he didn't waste a moment in running towards Lori, desperately calling out her name at the top of his lungs.

The women moved down a steep set of stairs and pushed through a gate that put them on the ground level where Rick and the others were. Carol was helping to hold Lori up in her other hand was the gun.

Rick charged over to Lori and only then did Carol and Rita let her go as Rick wrapped his arms around her and Lori wrapped hers around him. They held each other for just a moment before they gave each other a very tearful but loving kiss.

Darryl walked over to Carol and without hesitation threw his arms around her. She returned the hug and held onto him, silently thankful that she had the opportunity to hold him. For the first time in days she felt safe, _being in his arms made her feel safe._

Lori pulled away from the hug and looked around Rick and saw Carl standing a few feet away from her. His eyes were full of tears and his face pure confusion. She held her arms open to him but he could only shake his head as his tears fell.

"Carl, baby it's me…" she said, knowing that Carl couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him.

Carl turned and ran over to her, he threw his arms around her; careful enough not to hurt her. He held her as tight as he thought was best, not wanting to injure her body more. Lori could only hold him back and kiss the top of his head over and over. She had been so afraid he had been hurt, hadn't escaped the walkers; had been so afraid she would never get to see him or never get to hold him again.

Then she looked up and Maggie was walking over to her, in her arms Lori saw what she knew was her baby. "Your daughter wants to meet you." Maggie said as she passed the baby into Lori arms.

Lori could only cry tears of joy as she brought her baby up to place a soft kiss on her head. She couldn't believe she was holding her, she had been longing to and now she had hold of her part of her never wanted to put her down again. As she gazed down at her daughter she just knew the little girl was Rick's.

She turned to face Rick and asked, "Have you named her?"

"Carl did." Rick told her and he gently brushed his hand over his daughters head.

"What did you name her, baby?" Lori asked him as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Judith, but you can always change it if you want to, I don't mind."

"No, no, Carl, I love it. Its perfect" Lori said before Rick stepped beside her and wrapped one arm around her, the other arm he wrapped around his son.

Carol watched as the others talked to the other women, the new friends they had made. She was more than relieved to be back with the others but part of her couldn't help but feel they weren't as safe as they felt just yet.

**TBC **

**Thanks so much for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm sorry its taken so long to update….again**

**Thanks so much to anyone reading and reviewing.**

**In the last chapter: Lori, Carol and the other women had safely found their way back to the rest of the group after having let walkers into the cell block they were being held in. The walkers had killed all of the guards who had abused the women…but maybe one had been lucky enough to escape.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Chapter 7**

Everyone had made the new women in the group feel right at home. Hershel and Amy had helped to fix up some of their wounds and Maggie and Glenn had made sure they had a good meal to eat. The women were all more thank thankful and had all agreed to play a part in protecting the group, all of them had already volunteered for guard duty or to help out in any other way they could.

Having more people in the group made everyone feel better. Knowing that there were more people out there and not just walkers gave them all some new hope, even if it was only a little.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Carol was with Daryl up in his cell. She was using an old rag to clean herself up with, trying to make her bloodied wounds look a little less messy and slightly less severe. She had changed out of her old clothes and had already joked with Daryl about burning them…joked but she was deadly serious. Clothing wasn't something she had tons of anymore, or had ever really had, but she sure as hell never wanted to wear the clothes she had been abused in again.

"You know, if you want to talk about what happened, I'm happy to listen. I mean, you know, I can be here for you." Daryl said to her, wishing he was better at being sensitive, especially when it came to Carol. He genuinely wanted to help her. She had come to mean so much more to him than just friend.

Carol placed the blood stained rag down in the sink and turned to face him, a smile on her beaten face. She then walked over to the cot and sat down beside him. "Thanks." she replied.

"I mean it, Carol." he protested, desperate for her to know he was serious.

Carol smiled at him then leant forward and placed a thankful kiss on his cheek. She then lay her head against his shoulder. She had thought she would never get over what had happened to her, not truly anyway, but she suddenly wondered if she could with Daryl's help.

When she felt him wrap his arms around her and gently hold her close to him she didn't need to wonder, she _knew _she would get though it with him by her side.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Lori was sat with Rick out in the yard. She was holding her baby in her arms, barely able to pull her eyes away from her, and when she did it was to look at Rick or watch Karl who was stood talking to Hershel and Amy. She couldn't help but notice how happy he looked. She had felt like it had been months since she had really seen him smile but seeing it now helped soothe her somewhat.

She turned to look at her sleeping daughter again. "I truly never thought I would get to see her again, or you or Karl. Thinking that I had lost you, even though I would be dead, it broke my heart."

"You never have to worry about losing us, any of us." he said placing one hand on Lori's face and moving forward so he could place his forehead against hers. His other hand cupped his baby's head.

"I love you so much." Lori told him.

"I love you too."

They shared a loving kiss before they both sat looking around at their friends, all of them back together.

Suddenly a thought began to worry Lori. It had been playing in the back of her mind but fearing her friends and families safety she turned to Rick and said, "Rick, back in the other block, I think we let in enough walkers to kill the guards, but what if we didn't. What if they were able to escape. What if they show up here. If you knew the things they did, what they did to Carol, what they did to the others, what they would have done to me if we hadn't gotten outta there."

"Don't worry. Glenn, Daryl and I are going to search the corridors after the group turns in for the night, if we find any of them…well lets just say they will never hurt anyone again."

"Thank you." Lori replied with a smile, knowing full well that she could trust her husband to protect her and the others.

**~0~0~0~0~**

Rick was walking through a corridor alone. Glenn and Daryl had gone in another direction, usually splitting up wasn't their first option but they had a lot of ground to cover quickly to make sure the place was a safe as possible. So far all seemed okay and the corridors were empty of walkers…and guards.

Suddenly Rick froze. He was sure he had heard something coming from down the corridor and around the corner. He steadied the axe and the huge knife in his hands and slowly made his way forward. He slowly rounded the corner and just ahead of him saw a small barred door. Sat by it was a guard.

Rick heard a sound behind him, but he wasn't startled as he recognised it. It was Daryl's bow being loaded. The quiet _'click' _sound made the guard look up. He reached his arms through the bars towards Rick and Daryl.

"Please, help me!" he begged.

Rick slowly walked over to him, his weapons still aimed and ready. Daryl was right behind him. "Are you one of the guards who helped out our friends?" he asked.

"The women," the guard, who just so happened to be Doc Martin, said, "We found them, the one was really beaten up, cut bad and deep, but I'm a Doctor. At least I was before all this craziness started. Are the women okay, are they alive? Our block got over run, we couldn't get it back under control. I think I'm the only one who made it." he said, putting on an Oscar winning worthy act of an innocent man.

"You Doctor Martin?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah…did one of the women get back to you? God I hope they're okay?" he lied.

"Oh they're fine. Told us _all_ about you though." Rick replied.

Martin suddenly pulled his arms back and rested his head against the bars of the gate. "I'll bet they did. Look, I'm not a bad guy. I'm just a guy who tried to make the best out of this shitty situation. I mean…what would you guys have done?"

"We wouldn't have held women captive and beat them and raped them whenever we felt like it!" Daryl growled at him.

"Look, just let me through this gate. I'll get out of the prison, you won't have to see me again."

All three men suddenly looked up at the sounds of muffled moans and scuffing and dragging sounds. It was a familiar sound to all of them - Walkers approaching.

"FUCK! Please let me through!" the guard begged, knowing the sounds were coming up behind him.

"Why would we do that?" Rick said.

"You should have never hurt Carol, or Lori or the others!" Daryl yelled, hoping his voice would bring the approaching Walkers on quicker. It worked, they rounded the corner in a small herd and upon seeing the guard began moving as quick as they could towards their next meal.

"DAMN-IT, let me through!" Martin yelled!

Rick and Daryl took a step back. "This is called revenge!" Rick yelled over the sounds of the hungry Walkers.

The guard knew his fate was sealed. He knew he was about to be torn to pieces. "Those bitches deserved everything they got! My only regret is I didn't fuck Lori!"

Rick wanted to open the gate and beat the guard to a pulp for what he had said but Daryl quickly grabbed hold of him and held him back as the Walkers reached the guard. He turned to face them and tried in vain to fight them but the herd quickly fell on top of him.

Rick and Daryl turned away and could only listen as the sound of Doctor Martin being torn to pieces echoed in the corridor around them.

They left the corridor behind, the sounds of the guards screams getting fainter and fainter until they stopped altogether. Both men focused on how the women they loved were safe. How they had them back and how they would continue fighting in a world gone to hell to keep them and the others in the group safe. _After all, they were the only thing that one an other had left anymore and that was more than worth fighting for._

**The End.**

**Thanks for reading. Thank you so much for your patience between updates and for coming back each time.**

**Please review one last time.**


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